WereHunters: The Trinity
by DazedInReality
Summary: The Were-Hunter community is in uproar,someone has found out the secret of creating Were-Hunters!Now with the Omegrion hunting them on one side and their captors hunting them on the other,three sisters must find a way to survive.Full summary inside.
1. Author's Note: Please Read

The Were-Hunter community is in uproar, someone has found out the secret to magically creating Were-Hunters!

After escaping from the prison they have been kept in their entire lives, the three genetically engineered sisters, who are only known by their collective term 'The Trinity', are on the run.

An unforeseen incident brings them under the scrutiny of the Omegrion who have decided that it is in the best interest of all if they are hunted and killed.

And so an alliance the likes of which has never been seen before, between Strati and Sentinel, is formed in order to exterminate the new Weres.

Darion Kattalakis, one of the direct descendents of the original Were-Hunters, is called upon to help. He is a merciless predator and loyal Katagaria who will stop at nothing to find one of the hybrids, for they could be the means of completing his life long ambition - killing his enemy.

Now with the Omegrion hunting them on one side and their captors hunting them on the other, three sisters must find a way to survive.

Darion's story is the first of three in the Trinity Were-Hunter fanfictions.


	2. Prologue

Anna-Josephina's legs pumped furiously as she raced through the black trees and the wild shrubbery of the forest. The soft soles of her bare feet sank deeply into the wet, rotting vegetation that grew in abundance across the forest floor. The raw iciness of the winter air caused her breath to rake like steel claws at the inside of her lungs and a burning stitch started to stab at her ribs. Her naked body felt too sensitive, the branches that whipped at her legs cut deep and every pebble and sharp stone under foot caused her pain. For all the speed with which she and her sisters crashed through the trees, the forest was eerily silent to the human ears that pursued them. Despite her supernaturally refined senses the only thing that Anna could hear that was louder then her own breathing, was that of her two sisters who were running behind her. Anna pulled up in a clearing and risked a stop, she didn't want to, fear threatened to consume her whenever her feet were not eating up the ground in huge thumping strides.

"We need to keep going!" Isabella-Maria panted, her naked chest heaved greatly as she gulped in enormous boats of air, letting it sail into her lungs and replenish her exhausted body.

"Shh," Anna hissed and lowered herself to her knees like an old woman, now that she had stopped running she could do no other then rest her limbs, that were shaking with a mixture of adrenaline, cold and fear.

"They're coming for us!" Isabella cried softly, looking over her shoulder.

"Then be ready to kill!" Ava-Teresa gasped, own hand clutching her aching side while the other was braced taut and shaking against a thick, black tree trunk.

"Shh!" Anna warned them.

From the ground she let her honed instincts feel their way into the ether, she knew for a fact that her sisters were doing the same thing. Wearily Anna sat her naked bottom on her heels and stared around her, rattling breaths wheezed their way from her lungs and exploded into the air in thick plumes of white steam. The moon above them was a crescent but light enough to make the frost crusting the leaves and the moisture dangling from a spiders web glitter and sparkle like diamante. If their escape had been planned Anna knew that all three of them would have chosen the night of the new moon, when the sky was black and there was no bright whiteness to cast their shadows. Anna watched in a daze as a loose strand of gossamer thread waved languidly on the night air, presently a fat spider crawled from the darkness and stared at her. Without thinking Anna let out a loud and frightened gasp, she shot to her feet and stepped back into her sisters.

"What is it?" Isabella hissed through chattering teeth, her eyes scanning her surroundings feverishly, everything was so new to them, Isabella had no idea where danger lurked and where it didn't so she chose to view everything as lethal.

"Nothing," Anna recovered quickly and bent to wipe her muddy knees from where she had sank into the dirt.

"For a moment I thought …"

Ava walked forward and swiped her hand through the spider's home, leaving him swinging furiously from one thread.

"Its not him, Anna," Ava said seriously, her dead eyes looking up at an owl that peered curiously down at them.

"We have to go, Anna!" Isabella moaned, her muscles twitching with the intense cold. Anna looked at both her sisters, they were bruised and cold, in danger and frightened. Anna knew Isabella was right; their captors were in the forest now, they had dogs and guns and phasers and metriazo collars, and they would do anything to get the three of them back.

"I know," Anna whispered, she didn't know what was wrong with her. Normally she had terrific stamina, she could run non-stop for hours without even getting tired. But now her body felt drained, the terror she felt and the overdose of adrenaline leaving her almost in a trance. Anna knew that if they were caught she would be punished by the Doctor, Isabella too, but Ava … she would be killed. For it had been she that had killed the guard to their cells and then freed Isabella and herself, so they in turn could rescue Anna from the beating she was about to receive. Anna wrenched herself into the present, she could not let her sisters get caught after all they had done for her, not when freedom was only a few miles away.

"We need to split up," Anna told them in a voice that booked no argument, for the first time Ava's impassive face looked worried.

"We're stronger as one, Ann," Ava said without inflection, Isabella was silent for once but nodded her agreement.

"They will send everyone out looking for us," Anna's voice quivered with emotion as she spoke, "they will hunt us down like dogs. We need to confuse them by losing our scent."

Ava was unmoved but Isabella's survival instinct kicked in and she knew that they only stood a good chance of getting away if they split up. Ever since their youth they had known something about themselves that their captors had not. Unlike every other being they had ever come into contact with, they did not always give off individual scents. When together all three scents combined to make something unique that could only be created when they were in close contact with each other. And since birth they lived every waking moment with one another. As Were-Hunter's Anna and her sisters soon realised that when they were apart they took on their own individual scent, it was so confusing that the dogs on the compound would sometimes chase themselves in circles. Their captors just assumed that they had developed a strong ability to hide their scent, Anna, Isabella and Ava had never seen any reason to let them know different.

"I can hear a river up ahead," Isabella said leaning her head to the right and listening, she closed her eyes and for a moment her face was soothed by her affinity to water. "That will be a perfect place to split."

Anna nodded and they began to make their way through the woods, this time with Isabella in the lead, giving them direction. The journey to the river would have taken a human two hours but the sisters got their in under half an hour with frequent stops to listen for those pursuing them. When the reached the river bank what confronted them were foaming, angry rapids. They did not pause or slow but walked out of the trees and deliberately waded into the river. The force of the current was enough to make their knees buckle but they did not go down, Anna and Ava cupped the water in their hands and began splashing it over themselves. Just being in the water would cause the dogs to lose their scent but they wanted to be sure, even though the water was so cold it felt like it was burning their skin. The only one who was unaffected was Isabella, she simply stood and reverently skimmed the turbulent surface with her palms.

"This is the first time I've ever seen a river before," she whispered, tears clouding her vision and voice, "so many times I heard it calling to me from over the wall. Does this river run to the sea, do you think?"

Anna could not look into her sister's face and see the hope there, the realisation that freedom was almost within reach of their fingertips. Usually Isabella was the doubting Thomas but with her so enthralled with the river Ava said what needed to be said.

"We're not free yet," she muttered, looking down as if ashamed that she was dragging her sister back into reality.

"Remember," Anna whispered, her eyes fixed ahead of her gazing at the treetops that lined the northern sky, "no more then five miles."

No one said anything more but as one they parted. Isabella headed east, walking down river with the current, letting it move higher and higher, only when it was lapping at her thighs did she look over her shoulder.

Ava looked to the west and moved that way, thinking to head into the trees across from her, when she made the tree line she glanced over her shoulder.

Anna walked north, to the trees laying directly before her, she was just about to step from the river when she turned around.

Each caught the other looking back as they ventured out on to their own path, suddenly a noise drew their attention from behind. Their faces drew tight, and their mouths fell open with shock, Anna's eyes filled with tears of fear.

_No_, she thought desperately, _not again!_

Out of the trees came five men, all with their phasers raised and metriazo collars hanging from their belts.

"Halt!" one of the men shouted, his voice sounded slightly muffled from behind his mask that concealed his face. "Stay where you are!"

"Run!" Anna screamed.

She transformed faster then lightening into her terrifying dragon form and took to the air, shooting higher and higher out of the phasers range. As the biggest target Anna had all the men screaming and shooting at her, it gave Ava and Isabella time to get away. As one Ava transformed into a mouse and scrambled into the trees while Isabella dived and did not come up again as she rode the waves.

The men twirled stupidly together on the river bank, one even twisting so violently that he fell into the river as they scrambled to see which direction each went in. Even Anna's huge form was swallowed up by the dark sky and the clouds rolling in.

"Shit!" one of the men cursed, knowing there would be hell to pay when they came back empty handed. He took a radio from his belt and before speaking into it, looked over at one of his comrades.

"Doctor will not be happy about this."


	3. Chapter 1

Sebastian Fox wasn't his real name, his real name was Drazen Gabric. Feeling amongst his producers, however, was that Drazen needed a more Americanised name with roots in Anglo-Europe to go with his handsome American looks to boost the flagging ratings. Ever since the show's much-loved starlet, Emily McLean, had gotten herself married and left the show after the first series, the producers were looking for a different image. They had bought Drazen in to front the damn thing and what do you know? It was a hit. Mostly popular with women between the ages of 14 and 48. This then posed the problem of how to get the male viewers back.

And voilà, hey presto a blonde, busty and totally brainless assistant who wore tight shorts and no bra under her tight vest tops. Not that Drazen was complaining, he liked to look as much as the next guy. But this was a family show and most episodes featured Wendy O'Neill - not her real name of course - stripping down to her bikini, getting soaking wet in a fresh water stream while she read explanations about plant life and fish from the autocue. It was great jerking off material for the home alone types but all in all she was useless. The producers had tried to get him to do a few shirtless shots but Drazen had flat out refused, knowing his sisters back home would rib him mercilessly over it.

Drazen paused by the cameraman and scanned the area, they had been told this was a hot spot for bears which they had come to Alaska to film.

"Anything doing, Phil?" Drazen asked, the team had been sitting around in the snow for a few hours and Drazen was now suffering from a severe case of frost bitten balls.

"Not a thing," Phil replied and said nothing more. Polite but taciturn, Phil didn't go for all the showbiz crap of fawning over the stars of the show and that was why Drazen hung out with him when they weren't shooting.

"I think we may have to pack up for the day," Drazen mused, knowing the producers wouldn't be happy.

"Think you're right," Phil muttered and spat on the ground, Drazen was about to turn away when he spotted something that froze him faster then the snow he was ass deep in.

"Holy shit," he whispered in awe, Phil squinted into the distance and without asking what was so amazing he switched on his camera and narrowed his lens.

"Cat," Phil commented without much enthusiasm, Drazen cut him a glare that the cameraman didn't see and resisted the urge to slap the back of his head.

"It is not _just_ a cat," Drazen explained in a whisper, "it's a ocelot."

Phil still looked unimpressed.

"Just keep rolling, Phil," Drazen ordered impatiently, then added to himself in an excited mutter, "a damn ocelot. Holy shit … in Alaska, good God damn."

"It looks like a cat to me," Phil commented dryly and Drazen growled in his throat.

Phil hid the twitching of his lips as he ducked behind his camera again. He liked the kid and it was why he could take orders from him. The kid wasn't stupid, he knew what he was talking about when he came on set and he did his job well. And though he had a pretty face, he wasn't a sissy, in fact the kid had a six inch scar running down his left shoulder blade - he said he'd gotten from a bear which Phil believed. Above all he didn't act like Mr. Show Biz, Drazen knew how to talk to people and treated them with respect and kindness without licking ass and being a pushover, and that went a long way with Phil.

"Its an ocelot, okay! It looks like a domestic cat but if you look closer at its fur you'll see that it's a bit like a leopard or a jaguar. See, cream fur with blackish rosettes on it … Damn! Its even got ocelli on its ears."

"What?" Phil asked, becoming interested because Drazen was interested and Drazen, as far as Phil was concerned, was no fool.

"The single white spots on the back of its ears are called ocelli. What the hell is it doing this far north?"

Phil knew Drazen was talking to himself but frowned too, he peered at the ocelot that looked like any other cat in his neighbourhood to him.

"Where do they come from then?"

"South America and Mexico … sometimes they can venture to the most southern point of Texas, even been seen in Trinidad -"

"The Caribbean?"

"That would be the one … even some rare sightings in Arizona once or twice."

"So they like hot places?"

"Think Angelina Jolie then get hotter," Drazen murmured, shaking his head and laughing to himself.

"Damn that's hot …" Phil grunted, "so what -"

"The hell is it doing in Alaska?" Drazen finished his sentence for him, "no idea. Ocelot's have the lowest resting body temperature of any feline … what the hell is it doing here?"

The ocelot padded quietly back and forth and then simply sat down in the snow with its back to them. Suddenly a spine tailed swift dropped out of the sky, it circled the ocelot and presently landed beside it. The ocelot got up and walked over to it, Drazen's eyebrows flew up on his forehead, what was he seeing?

"What the hell …" he mumbled to himself.

The ocelot had not tried to attack which was mind boggling, but the swift had not taken flight at the ocelot's approach which was unbelievable. Drazen blinked his eyes a couple of times to make sure he was seeing clearly … nope a bird and a cat were definitely sitting side by side. Drazen had a weird thought that the animals were in some way communicating, as if they were friends. But that was impossible …

In the distant trees beyond there was a movement that had both the ocelot and the swift going still. Prowling out of the darkness was a cougar, Drazen frowned, baffled by the presence of all three animals.

Could they be what he thought they were?

Without any type of warning the swift and the cougar disappeared and in their place were two women. Drazen simply watched in a stunned silence that quickly turned to dread, suddenly a delayed shout of alarm and shock sounded from Phil. Drazen turned to look at the cameraman who was backing away from the camera as if it were cursed.

"What - the - fuck!" he shouted, his alarm bringing the attention of the rest of the crew. Drazen whipped his head back to the two women who were now looking in their direction with expressions of horror on their faces. As one the two women and the ocelot ran in different directions, disappearing into the trees and behind the hills of snow. Drazen bit his lip and looked back at the crew that had started to rewind and study the footage, they had just caught two, possibly three, Were-Hunters on film …

His family were going to be seriously pissed at him.

* * *

><p>"And now for the final story in our programme," the newsreader looked into the camera and allowed his usually sombre face to smile.<p>

"Producers from the Discovery Channels hit wildlife show _Nature and Home _have said to be 'raving' about their discovery while filming bears in Alaska. While in Alaska the rolling camera captured footage of a cougar and a swift allegedly transforming into humans."

The newsreader smiled wider and his picture was replaced by the footage of the animals changing into humans. The footage was shown again in slow motion, the newsreader appeared and raised his eyebrows to the camera.

"The shows front man, Sebastian Fox has strongly denied the rumours of these women being a new breed of Yeti and insists the whole thing is a publicity stunt from local students in the area. Despite Fox's claims of the incidents being nonsense, crowds have started to flock to the area in hopes of getting a glimpse of the 'Feral Females' as they being named. An inside source has confirmed that the footage is one hundred percent genuine … Very mysterious. We knew Alaskan women were wild but not that wild … So is it a hoax? Or have we just seen evidence of a new species? Are tales of witches changing into animals true? E-mail us your thoughts, some of which will be read out on our later programme at ten."

While the newsreader closed the programme Were-Hunter households all over the country were in turmoil.

"How can this have happened?" Aimee Peltier whispered in shock, looking around her at her mate and her brothers.

"Fuck knows," replied Etienne, his eyes not leaving the screen, "someone is gonna catch some serious shit for this though."

"Did you see what they were though?" Dev demanded, his normally jovial face stern and serious.

"A cougar and a swift," Cherif supplied, "who the fuck ever heard of a cougar breed of Were? Or swift for that matter? Hawks are the only bird were ... jackal, wolf -"

"Damn it, Cher, we know!" Remi snapped, "there has never been a cougar Were … and ten to one odds that that cat thing was one too."

"Shit," muttered Fang under his breath, he leant his jaw against Aimee's hair as his mind ticked over what he saw. "We need to do something."

"Like what?" Aimee asked.

"Find these bitches before the humans do," Remi groused, Aimee flicked a worried glance up to Fang who was nodding in agreement.

"Alain, you better get ready," Quinn said quietly, Alain looked at him quizzically, "the Omegrion are bound to call everyone in."

Everyone nodded their agreement but no one moved, each wondering what this incident might mean for them and the Were-Hunter world.

* * *

><p>"Wren!"<p>

Wren snapped his head up at the sound of Maggie shouting for him, her voice riddled with worry. Without wasting another moment he flashed himself to her side and laid his hand on her rounded stomach.

"What is it?" he demanded anxiously, "is it the baby?"

"No," Maggie said urgently and pointed to the TV, "look what's happened!"

Wren frowned but did as she asked and cursed aloud when he saw the footage of two Were females transforming before the camera. Wren could feel Maggie's fearful eyes watching him but he did not look back at her, he was focused on the terrified expressions upon the faces of the two women. As damaging as this footage was to the Were-Hunters as a whole, Wren could not help but feel a pang of pity for the unknown women.

"Has this ever happened before?" Maggie asked, Wren responded immediately to the frightened quiver in her voice and placed a soothing hand over her belly, he rubbed gently.

"Yeah, quite a few times," replied Wren casually, himself having been caught on tape jumping into a tigers pen to save a young human boy. "But never as bad as this. Hopefully someone will be able to pass it off as a hoax … its all happened since that damn video camera was invented."

Maggie was quiet and Wren pulled her under his arm.

"Don't worry, we'll sort this all out," he consoled her, "no ones in danger yet."

The lie tasted bitter on his tongue but he couldn't have her too worried when she was so near her delivery date.

* * *

><p>Vane Kattalakis looked over at his wife Bride who was watching the TV with an open mouth.<p>

"I can't believe it …" she whispered then looked up at her husband, worry written plainly on her beautiful face, "what does this mean, Vane?"

"It means that we could very likely be exposed if we don't shut it down," Vane answered grimly, staring at the TV with dislike.

"And how are you going to do that?"

Vane didn't answer but within the hour a summons had come from the Omegrion.


	4. Chapter 2

If there had ever been a more grave meeting of the Omegrion Darion Kattalakis was hard pressed to remember it. On receiving the call to attend the meeting Darion had flashed himself to Neratiti, a magical island that was home to the councils mediator, Savitar. On appearing at Savitar's home Darion immediately noticed several things that were not usual. The most immediate and conspicuous incongruity was Savitar himself, sitting high upon his throne that reminded Darion of a majestic lifeguards tower, the dangerous and powerful being was never there to greet the Were-Hunters that came to his home. He usually came later, swaggering in nonchalantly whenever he felt to do. Darion looked beyond the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the sky roil, blackening clouds swelled and folded over the ocean towards them, bringing in pelting rain, gale force winds and trembling thunder. Darion wondered whether the island's weather was controlled by Savitar's mood, for the supreme God-like creature sitting before them looked P-I-double S-ED pissed.

The darkness of Savitar's mood pervaded every corner of the room, quelling any desire in the Weres to talk amongst themselves. As a testament to how bad the situation was every representative was there. It was normal for the Arcadian reps to turn up all together in one group because they were too cowardly to face their animal cousins alone. The only human Darion knew to turn up by himself was Damos Kattalakis, Darion curled his lip as he spied Damos across the room looking brooding and intense. Had Damos been anyone else Darion would have respected his courage, as it was Damos Kattalakis was Darion's most bitter enemy - he was also his blood cousin.

Darion took his seat between Draven Hawke, the Katagaria Gerakian rep and Wren Tigarian, the Katagaria Niphetos Pardalia rep. The snow leopard and the hawk paid him no mind as he sat and neither did anyone else, Darion looked directly across the table to where Damos sat. Damos always sat opposite him so they were directly in sight of each other, the sentinel's eyes burned with vicious hatred as he stared at Darion and the sentinel markings swirled on to his face. Darion's mouth twisted into what was meant to be a wry smirk but he hated Damos too much to muster up even that. Darion drew his eyes away from his cousin to scan the faces around him, all the reps were now seated at the large circular table. It was the only time that Darion could recall the council room being dark, meetings were customarily held in daylight. Tonight the room was dimly lit by fire burning in bowls of oil, each wall held sixteen bowls and still it was not enough to sufficiently light the room. It only cast long shadows on to the faces of his cohorts, throwing into sharp relief their expressions of anxiety and concern.

Suddenly Savitar spoke, his voice echoing uncommonly in the room causing a chill to rest on Darion's skin.

"Animals, humans," Savitar said without his customary nonchalance, "I'm opening the Omegrion council."

The thunder growled loudly and dramatically following this announcement, Adrian Gavril, the Arcadian tiger spoke first.

"We've been exposed," he began calmly and coldly.

"You don't say," Vincenzo Moretti, the Katagaria jackal mocked scathingly, Adrian cut him a murderous glare.

"Shut up, asshole," Anelise Romano snapped back, Vincenzo flipped her off and Anelise stood up immediately, not frightened of going toe to toe with any male, animal or human.

"Enough!" Adrian barked, his eyes flashing, "there is more at stake right now then the pride of Arcadians and Katagaria … our entire world has been threatened with exposure. My cousin in Germany contacted me this morning - internet sites have already been set up and people from all over the world are swapping stories and pictures of supposed shifters. I've had a look at the site myself and there are definitely genuine pictures there, no matter how fuzzy or out of focus."

"He's right," Paris Sebastienne's voice spoke out of the shadows clouding his part of the table, "my brother said people are talking about it wherever he goes and that's as far as Peru."

"So what? People have believed in us for years," Michael Giovanni scoffed with a shrug, the Katagaria cheetah was leaning back on his chair legs with one arm slung over the back of it, a valiant effort to look indifferent and cool.

"This is different -" Leo, the Arcadian bear tried to explained.

"Different my ass," Michael rolled his eyes, "for centuries we've been part of mythology of every culture from Europe to Africa. Loup-Garou, Skinwalkers, Werewolves, why is this any different?"

"Because, idiot, those myths were made when the only evidence man had was his eyes," Dorian Kontis scolded, "these creatures have been caught on camera and sooner or later evidence will emerge that the film isn't tampered with or faked."

Michael rolled his eyes again but was effectively silenced, even though Darion had no love for any Arcadian he didn't like Giovanni's flip attitude and was glad when Dorian shut him up.

"Besides if they were stupid enough to get caught once it could happen again," Alain Peltier said quietly, it looked strange to Darion that the eldest Peltier son sitting there instead of his mother.

"I think we're forgetting something equally as important," an insidiously toneless voice Darion knew to be Lysander Stephanos spoke from the other end of the table.

"What's that?" Fury Kattalakis asked, he and his brother sitting beside each other, both looking intense and dangerous.

"These creatures are not like any type of Were known to us," Lysander remarked, his words heavy with implied meaning, "they are a threat until we know different. Who has ever heard of there being Were-cougars before? Somebody has tampered with nature here."

"The whole reason we are here today is because someone tampered with nature," Wren Tigarian's soft, deep tones emerged from beside Darion, making Darion glance to the young Were. "We are the product of a crazy King trying to fight fate."

"What do you suggest we do then?" hissed Anelise Romano contemptuously, "let these beasts roam wild, creating havoc wherever they please?"

"I suggested nothing of the sort," Wren returned calmly though there was a undertone in his voice that made Darion hide a smirk, the mild, shy exterior of this Katagaria belied a murderous rage within.

"I just pointed out that simply because it is uncommon to you does not make it unnatural. There are many things in this world that are what you would call 'unnatural' but they all have a right to live."

Anelise scoffed at that but said nothing, although Darion agreed with both Anelise and Lysander he understood why Wren had sympathies for the rogue Weres. Wren was a hybrid, a mixture of species, in short he was a freak. And as sad as it was freaks had no place in the Were-Hunter world, the animals inside them immediately rejected that which was different.

"What are we saying here?" Fury Kattalakis spoke up again, his voice laced with incredulity, "that we are to hunt and kill these things? Exterminate them?"

There was a silence, a deep troubling, conscience-racking, soul-searching silence, no one spoke. No one wanted to act like the hand of the Gods for these creatures, the hush would have gone on forever had it not been broken, so Darion broke it.

"Yes," he said, his voice echoing slightly in the stillness, "that is what we must do."

Fury opened his mouth as if to protest but Vane placed a furtive hand on his brother's forearm and Fury lapsed into silence, his objections swallowed but evidently not forgotten by the look on his merciless face.

"Then it is decided," Lysander said, "they must die."

Darion looked across from him to where Damos sat, his cousin's face was frozen, no evidence of emotion or thought showed itself there. Hatred the likes of which few people could ever know worked its way through Darion like a poison, heating his blood. Darion wished to the Gods that it was Damos he was being tasked to hunt and kill. Just one more chance to cut the heart out of the bastard's chest. They had last met for a battle over a century ago, since then their paths had never crossed and were unlikely to unless Darion sought out the conflict on Damos's turf. They only ever saw each other at the Omergrion and if Darion killed Damos here Savitar would make sure he was soon to follow. A low toned discussion commenced among the council reps making Darion blink and look around him. Never had he known such unity within the council there was still an undercurrent of tension and hostility but the agreement was almost disturbing. Darion glanced up to Savitar, the ancient being was sitting back in his chair with his face obscured by shadows yet Darion sensed Savitar's eyes upon him. He quickly looked away wondering how much Savitar knew of what Darion was thinking …

* * *

><p>"Well," Bracken O'Rooke demanded as soon as Darion strode back into their camp, "what have the Omegrion ruled?"<p>

The older dragon's eyes, the colour of pale smoke, were hard and feverish as they glared fixedly at Darion.

"The creatures are to be hunted," Darion said, sitting down beside the fire with a sigh of relief to be off his feet, he paused before he spoke again, "they are to be destroyed."

"I would expect nothing less," Bracken sniffed, he tore a lump of bloodied steak apart with his hands and offered one half to Darion, seeing the build up of dirt beneath Bracken's nails Darion shook his head to the offer.

"Thank you but I have eaten," Darion lied stiffly, his stomach clenched as he watched Bracken's mossy teeth bite into the meat. Darion lowered his eyes so his mouth did not involuntarily say something about Bracken's manners, it didn't do well to offend the leader of your clan.

"The Omegrion," Bracken managed to say between bites, "for all its faults, would never let such beasts live. It would taint the very foundations of our society."

Darion listened with his eyes on the grass between his feet, Bracken was a grimy bastard to be sure but he was intelligent. He was a great Katagaria philosopher as far as Darion was concerned. If he had his way Darion would broadcast Bracken's speeches and rhetoric on the purity of the Katagaria blood and the importance of being separate on radio stations across the world so that every Were-Hunter household would hear it. Then mix-matings like that of Dante Pontis and Wren Tigarian could be seen for the abomination that they really were.

"That's true," Darion agreed softly, he raised his eyes now that Bracken had stopped eating, the elder dragon picked the meat from between his teeth.

"Its bad enough that we have Katagaria and Arcadians mating and breeding left, right and centre," Bracken waved his hand indicating each direction as he spoke it, "but now we have these … things, these mutants."

Bracken's broad Irish brogue became even thicker as he worked himself up for a lecture, the glow of the fire lit up his slightly lined face and making the grey at his temples appear silver.

"What would happen were they to breed?" Bracken asked out loud, for Darion was not the only one listening now, the young males and females of the clan had crowded forward and sat about him in their human forms, listening to his wise words.

"Supposing they bred with normal pure blooded Weres like ourselves? Forget being Arcadian or Katagaria for a moment, but just as Were-Hunters that you are. Your right to be here is written on these scarred lands by the blood of your ancestors who fought and won against vicious Arcadian hordes. You have prospered and survived because you are the fittest. And now these things come along -"

Bracken spoke so emphatically that his face screwed up to convey his disgust at the thought of these creatures.

"Are they born? Are they created? What are they?"

"If they are born then doesn't it stand to reason that they to are as natural as we?" asked a Drakos pup sitting between his two friends, Darion knew him to be a weak-willed, easily led youth.

"No," Bracken answered immediately, "what have I explained about natural and unnatural. Arcadians are on this earth, we know this, we cannot dispute the fact - now if they stayed with their own kind it would be considered natural. But there are those out there that willing go into a cross breed and cross species mating. This results in the offspring that is _unnatural_."

The crowd nodded along with Bracken's words.

"Take that hybrid Tigard -" Bracken clicked his fingers trying to jog his memory.

"Wren Tigarian," Darion supplied quietly, watching in awe how Bracken captivated his audience.

"That's it! He's quite simply a freak, his own mother wished him dead. And it is only the unnatural sensibilities of humans that has allowed him to reproduce. What else but a human could look past everything that is bad and want to be associated with it."

Darion, who had no quarrel with Wren, was inclined to agree with Bracken, for as much as he liked the Tigard the idea of mating with something so … abnormal was frankly revolting to Darion.

"The unnaturalness … the, the abnormality would surely cause genetic malfunctions in the blood and so on. And who is to pay? But the children, our children, Katagaria cubs and pups, etc because Fate may one day move her mighty hand and BAM!"

Bracken slapped his fist suddenly against his palm as he shouted, making the more skittish among the crowd jump, including the weak-willed youth that spoke up earlier.

"You end up mated to a hybrid, half ant and half cow," Bracken said pointing to a young woman in the front row who curled her lip at the thought while her friends laughed at her disgust.

"And you -" Bracken pointed to a boy standing up behind those who were crouched near the fire, "you are mated to a dragonswan that is the offspring of these freaks and what do you produce when her faulty genes become prevalent in your young. A retarded half breed - half chicken half fox. It'll end up chasing itself around the room because it is the mixture of two completely contradictory beings. One meant to be predator the other prey."

The crowd tittered at the image but all now had been forewarned of the consequences of mating too freely without knowledge of their potential mate's blood line. To be mated to an Arcadian was bad enough but to be mated to a hybrid one - well, there was no greater shame. Many would rather die then tell their families that they were to be mated with anything but a pure blood Dragon.

The crowd disbanded in twos and threes and left Bracken and Darion to talk, Bracken waved goodbye to a young dragonswan he knew well then turned back to Darion. The elder dragon looked exhilarated and happy that he had guarded the younger generation against such evils.

"Tell me everything," he wheezed, as fit and sprightly as Bracken looked he was very old and while to humans he looked no more then his early forties he was in fact nearing the end of his life.

"We are to unite," Darion told him tonelessly, knowing his words would aggravate him but trying to spare him that, "Strati and Sentinel are to hunt together."

"What?" Bracken said, his sharp eyes almost looking confused.

"What is this heresy?" he said slowly, "what is this atrocity? Strati and Sentinel are born enemies, they cannot unite. It is like trying to congeal oil and water, it cannot happen because when you try there is simply an ugly, distasteful mess that ruins the lives of all the creatures that must exist near it."

Darion shrugged and shook his head.

"I don't know what to tell you, Brack," he said wearily for he was equally as shocked that the Omegrion had come to such a decision.

"There is to be a truce called between us. Should anyone attack on either side until we've brought these creatures to heel, they will be killed and their clan held accountable."

"Preposterous!" Bracken said with a hacking cough to follow to show just how indignant he was.

"It was voted in by the majority, only three people objected to the idea. They all agreed to unite until this … trouble has passed."

"That's because the Omegrion has become like a tree with diseased roots. The likes of that Pontis and Tigarian and those Kattalakis -"

Bracken passed Darion a sympathetic look, "I cast no aspersions on your family name, my boy."

"I take no offence," Darion said with a laugh, "I am Drakos and they are Lykos."

"But you are cousins and are the direct descendents of our forebears," Bracken reminded him shiftily, a tic started in Darion's tight jaw.

"That may be so but we are not alike," Darion stated firmly, his voice booking no argument, "they would mate with humans while I would rather be flayed alive. We are nothing alike."

Bracken let the issue drop for he knew that Darion had a terrible temper that could be the end of all of them were it to get out of control and his family were always a touchy subject for him.

"You will have to join with Damos?" Bracken asked in a deceptively casual voice, unable to resist one final poke.

"I may have to unite with Arcadians but he and I will forever be enemies. The thought of having him dead in my claws somehow makes a death sentence from the Omegrion seem worth it."

Bracken said nothing for a long while, Darion looked over to him and watched Bracken's face grow intense with deep thought.

"If you don't kill him now when he is here in this time period you will miss the only opportunity that won't be likely to present itself again for another thousand years," Bracken said softly, he looked up at Darion then, the fire making his eyes look gold.

"Savitar would know -" Darion scoffed.

"Savitar is impartial, he must remain so it is Omegrion law. Besides he needs evidence that it was you who killed Damos - if Damos were to be killed that is."

"What are you talking about, you old crow?" Darion whispered, narrowing his eyes on Bracken's shrewd face.

"I am about to suggest a plan, the success of which hangs on a very delicate thread," Bracken began, gazing into the fire, "if it were you, Darion, that found and captured one of these mutants. You could set it loose on Damos."

Darion's eyes flashed and Bracken leant closer, their shadows becoming scary and elongated on the wall behind them, like to trolls conspiring in the night.

"You set it loose on him and there is no way that you can be charged for it."

"What if it doesn't kill Damos?" Darion asked dubiously, Bracken shrugged.

"Then you kill him and blame it on the mutant - which would also be dead by your hand as the Omegrion has decreed … and we must abide by the councils rules."

Bracken cackled horribly, revealing his green and brown teeth, Darion frowned he was always made uneasy by Bracken's slipperiness.

"This plan relies heavily on me actually being the one to catch one of the damned freaks," Darion mumbled to himself moodily.

"Well yes," Bracken agreed indifferently, "there are pitfalls in every plan. Most great plans rely heavily on luck. But were you to be the one that found the freak you could put this plan into action by luring Damos away from the pack, letting him think he is following the mutant and disposing of him."

Darion held back from celebrating the hatching of a brilliant plan, something tugged insistently at him, he thought it might be his honour.

"But then I would breach the code and rules that the Omegrion have set forth …" Darion said as if musing to himself.

"This is not the fellowship of the ring, Darion!" Bracken growled furiously, Darion laughed in spite of himself that the dragon knew of Lord of the Rings, "kill the sentinel bastard - but only after you have the mutant."

Darion deafened himself to any objections his mind put forward, he knew this would be his only chance to do away with Damos and not have to face losing his seat on the Omergrion and landing himself in an Arcadian jail. If Damos was murdered the suspicion and blame would fall immediately on him, everyone knew the feud between Damos and himself. Bracken was right, this was the only way.


End file.
